Reading is Fundamental
by Thnx4theGum
Summary: WARNING: This is based on *SPOILERS* and *SPECULATION* for eps 99 and 100 which are STILL TO COME, so if you don't wanna know, don't read! Otherwise, enjoy! Unadultered fluffy feelings may ensue. Oneshot.


**After reading the latest from TV Guide on #100 AND with all of the speculation swirling around the sides for #99 I couldn't help myself!**

**Gum**

* * *

Reading is FUNdamental

"So," Booth dragged the word out for several syllables, "get anything interesting in the mail yesterday?"

She looked up from her vegetable lo mien and read the subtext in his eyes, "The advanced copy of Sweets' book? Yes." There was a moment's hesitation before she ventured, "Did you read it?"

"Skimmed the highlights," he said cryptically, eyes roving around his kitchen.

"I read the entire thing," she informed him needlessly, pushing the food around on her plate.

Silence fell.

"What was your take on it?" he asked as casually as if they were talking about their latest case.

"His conclusion was intriguing though the operating premise is sadly mistaken," she replied.

"Yeah…wait, what?" he met her eyes for the first time since bringing it up. "Operating premise?"

"He seems to infer that we were attracted to one another both sexually and socially from the very onset of our working together; however, that was not the case," she was sure of herself on that point.

"Hmm," was all he could muster as his mind flipped back to their first case five years ago. "Yeah, not sure you can call something that ended up with me being blacklisted an unqualified success."

"If you hadn't accosted me at the airport I'm not certain we would have worked together again," she said thoughtfully after a swig of beer.

Booth grinned smugly, "You were _begging_ to work with me after that."

"I was not!" she huffed.

"Hey," he jabbed his fork in her direction, "_I_ wasn't the one skipping after _you_ in my bare feet to get full participation."

"An act that would've been wholly unnecessary had you not treated me like a library reference book in the first place," she shot back. "And for your information, I don't skip."

"You just keep telling yourself that," he waggled his eyebrows and leaned back in his stool. "Want the last egg roll?"

"No thank you," she shook her head.

They finished eating and began clearing the table, a laugh escaping her as Booth attempted to toss an empty carton into the trash can from far away and failed. She stepped in front of him and took up a carton of her own, sending it in a perfect arc into the can.

"We should probably correct Dr. Sweets before his erroneous presumptions become public fodder," she commented, ignoring the tongue that was protruding from his mouth.

"Yup," he tried again for the trash can and succeeded, crowing loudly, then added, "We'll head in first thing tomorrow."

She noted that it was already getting late and commented that if they were going to add a visit to Sweets' office in the morning, she would need to be going. He fetched her coat from the back of his couch and helped her into it.

"Do you think he will ask for our opinion on its conclusion?" she asked warily, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as they stood in the open doorway.

"Bet on it," he nodded.

"I will but you shouldn't," she replied. The frown on her face deepened, "Are we going to inform him that he was correct?"

Booth traced his thumb down her cheek, still reveling in the fact that he could, "Nah. Wouldn't want to inflate his ego. We'll tell him about our first case to keep him off the scent."

He attempted to cut off her response with a kiss designed to curl her toes and take her mind far away from Sweets and his book. It only worked for the length of the kiss.

"Psychology is a soft science," she picked up where they'd left off, only a hint of a smile at the corners of her now slightly-swollen lips. "It was most likely a lucky guess on his part."

"Maybe," his mind shifted to another new manuscript he'd read; one that had led them to where they were right now.

"You think not?" she questioned.

"Either that," he laid a soft kiss on her brow, smiling down at her, "or he read page 187 too."


End file.
